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Tree removal precedes Fairy Lake improvements

Saugeen Shores Parks Manager Frank Burrows (left) updated a small crowd on the removal of approximately 500 Ash trees, dead or dying due to Emerald Ash Bore, from Fairy Lake at a Town-sponsored public meeting Jan. 12 at the Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre. The tree removal precedes future improvements at the Southampton park. Frances Learment/Shoreline Beacon

Proposed upgrades to Fairy Lake in Southampton must wait until approximately 500 Ash trees, dead and dying due to Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) disease, are removed in a harvest.

The Town's tender call for tree removal closed Jan. 16, and Saugeen Shores staff hope to quickly award a contract to begin work as soon as possible while the trees are dormant. Removing the infected trees will ensure safety for visitors to the Fairy Lake Nature Area.

Along with the tree removal, the four-phase upgrades at Fairy Lake also include Curly-leaf Pondweed control, visitor facility improvements, and environmental stewardship improvements.

Approximately 35 people attended a Town-hosted public meeting Jan. 12 at the Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, and their verbal and written comments and questions will be incorporated into the Fairy Lake plans.

The $284,500 budget includes $225,000 of tax dollars for Ash tree removal and replanting, $15,000 to control Pondweed, $15,000 for visitor improvements including a new accessible outlook, a second water fountain and improved lake-side trails and $99,000 for SauGreen for the Environment work.

In her welcome, Jayne Jagelewski, the Town's Director of Community Services, said Fairy Lake was the “victim”' of many environmental changes – the Pondweed and EAB – and the planned work will ensure its use for generations to come.

“We secured $50,000 as part of a $150,000 capital project as part of the Canada 150 grants for this year, and unfortunately, we can't move forward on any of that until we deal with the Emerald Ash issue – it's the roadblock right now,” Jagelewski said after the meeting, adding they are “anxious” to begin the tree harvest.

Project lead, Donna Lacey, a forestry technician with Saugeen Valley Conservation, called Emerald Ash Bore “devastating”, and said the removal of 400 smaller trees from the Museum-side of the lake, 100 large trees from the Saugeen Memorial Hospital and Matheson Park area, and trees on eight residential lots “will not be pretty.”

Victoria Serda, representing the not-for-profit SauGreen for the Environment, and its Trees for SauGeen sub-committee, called Fairy Lake a “gem” and a “beautiful community hub” that will be enhanced by plans for forest, edible and medicinal gardens, a dry-stone staircase, a new lookout, education pods along the lake-circling trail, and “positive ways” to use the harvested wood, including benches and bird boxes to replace lost habitat.

Serda said last year, SauGreen last year received $45,500 in grants, including $25,000 in a provincial Great Lakes Guardian grant, and $20,500 from Bruce Power to help with the tree replanting, with help from various groups, including Saugeen First Nation, in a “good reconciliation” project.

Frank Burrows, the Town's Parks Manager, said if the weather cooperates, the Ash trees will be removed by the end of March, and the park will be closed for approximately two months.

Once the harvest is complete, Burrows said the Fairy Lake rehabilitation work will begin on a second water fountain, trail improvements, including bridge and drainage work, and a lakeside lookout – public comments on an exact location are welcomed by the Town.

Area resident Hugh Wright opposed spending $384,500 – some of it tax dollars – to upgrade a park that he said is an “overestimated asset” especially when Southampton is known for its beaches. Another resident suggested fishing in Fairy Lake be banned, and another suggested a cross-county trail be developed so walkers would not be”scared” to walk the existing trail with bicyclists or runners.

The Fairly Lake work schedule includes removal of the trees by the end of March, tree replanting and upgrade work in April/May, fountain installation in May/June, culminating with completed restoration work for Canada Day.